ROCKFORD – Today the Rockford Education Association (REA) launched a community hotline so parent and community members can quickly and easily contact Rockford Public Schools (RPS) District 205 Superintendent Ehren Jarrett and voice their concerns about the ongoing contract negotiations. The hotline number is 1.866.806.7794.
This comes after REA launched an email campaign that generated more than 8,500 emails to board members and Jarrett urging them to come to a contract agreement that pays teachers a fair wage, provides full support for all students and avoids a strike.
“Enough is enough. We have now been bargaining for a year. We started at the table last February. Clearly, the district isn’t hearing our concerns at the table. We know parents are just as upset as we are, and we wanted to make sure their voices are heard,” REA President Claudia Marshall said. “On top of that, the district is now threatening to cut learning days for students, which means all 28,000 of our students will have fewer days in school this year. It’s totally out of line and out of sync with what the Rockford community wants.”
“We want the administration to pay our teachers fairly and competitively. We know how hard they work and how they go above and beyond for our students. Our wages are far behind neighboring districts,’ resulting in open positions, which means our students aren’t getting the support and high-quality education they need to be successful in the future,” parent Christina Rudolph said. “I will gladly pick up the phone and call, especially if it means my children, other students and our teachers get what they deserve.”
On Jan. 24, the REA membership overwhelmingly voted to authorize a strike. The vote gives the REA bargaining team the authority to call a strike. To legally go on strike, REA would also need to give a 10-day intent to strike notice to RPS, the regional superintendent and the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board (IELRB).
REA has been bargaining with the district since February. REA’s contract expired in July, which means educators have been working without a contract since the start of the school year. On Dec. 4, REA and the district began working with a federal mediator during negotiation sessions. On Dec. 22, the district issued its last, best offer, signaling an unwillingness to negotiate further, which triggered the public posting process through the IELRB. This is also the first legal step toward a strike.
Still at issue at the bargaining table are:
- Retirement benefits: REA is pushing to expand current retirement options, offering a choice for all members, which will have large cost savings for RPS.
- Working conditions: The district is pushing for an inequitable and unfair burden on special education teachers, while making it difficult to obtain the necessary paraprofessional support for kindergarten classrooms. Teachers go above and beyond by taking on additional duties because there are so many unfilled positions.
- Subpar wages: Rockford teachers make less than many neighboring districts, including Belvidere and Hononegah. Rockford salaries are below average when compared to other Illinois school districts of similar size.
- Retroactive pay: Retroactive pay honors the work REA teachers have been doing all year. Rockford teachers are working without a contract right now, and the district can and should make them whole by providing back pay for any wage increases reflected in the new contract.
- Step increases: The district wants to take step increases away from REA members. This represents a monetary loss not just for this contract, but a major loss for the life of their careers in this district. Annual step increases are part of a larger salary schedule the district has already agreed to.
“I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again. The bottom line is this: A majority of our teachers live in Rockford. We are Rockford. When you invest in us, you invest in our entire community. Our students should have nothing less,” Marshall said.
REA represents nearly 2,000 teachers, social workers, counselors, speech pathologists, nurses, psychologists and other licensed staff working and supporting nearly 28,000 students in RPS.
REA members and parents plan to pack tomorrow night’s RPS District 205 Board of Education Committee of the Whole meeting at the RPS administration building (501 Seventh St., Rockford). The meeting begins at 6 p.m. The next bargaining date for RPS and REA is set for Feb. 5.
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The 135,000 member Illinois Education Association (IEA-NEA) is the state’s largest union. IEA represents Pre K-12 teachers outside the city of Chicago and education support staff, higher education faculty, retired education employees and students preparing to become teachers, statewide.
